Godchild Project
by Lady-of-Defiance
Summary: Demon is not ready to lead the flock, he wasn't ready for his parents to get kidnapped either. And he certainly wasn't ready to deal with the amount of insanity to come from just two girls...
1. How I met your mother, ok not really

CRASH!!!!! Imagine, your life is great, no, let's say just perfect for you. Your parents are cool and let you do about anything you want (with the boundaries of drugs and sex). Also your best friend lives right next door and you live within a walking distance of a mall and anything else you could picture.

Now let's say that it was all taken away from you. Your house was burned down (and so was your friend's). Your parents are missing (kidnapped by giant mutant deformed bird-things in my case) and now you're on the run from an evil organization that's out to kill/experiment on you or a combination of the two. You'd be pretty bummed right? Well let's just go out on a limb and say it gets worse. Yeah, _worse_.

You're probably thinking "How the h-e-double hockey sticks could it get worse?" Well, trust me it does. Especially when you don't even think it could happen. You're just walking along on the run with your best friend since birth and your parent's friend's kids too cause their story exactly the same when you get hit by a giant blue-winged bird.

You heard me right, GIANT BLUE-WINGED BIRD. There I was minding my own business when "WHAM, CRASH, OW" Now picture that the bird is actually a girl with wings attached, and that she's dumb enough to wear a blindfold while flying. Yes folks a blindfold. Well that is exactly how I met your mother…nah I'm just kidding it's actually how I met probably the most two insane people I'll ever meet.

"OW!" the bird girl stood up clutching her head; I was on the ground winded still. Ziggy leaned over me to see if I was alive. The girl kinda stumbled around trying to get some balance. I sat up trying to breathe normally. I turned around to get a good look at the idiot who ran into me when another girl comes crashing down (thankfully not into me). She lands (or crashes) into the bushes next to the other one. The first one hears this.

"Malley? You there?" she calls, still holding her head. She blindly reaches out as if trying to grab her companion. The second one pops up.

"Yeppers!" she squeaks out, a big smile consuming half her ace (the other half still covered by the blindfold).

"Good. GAH! My head hurts, I think I hit a tree," says the first. The flock holds back a laugh as I glared at the idiot girl.

"Really? Aw, poor tree," her friend replied.

"If I could see you I'd smack you," the girl retorted. She stretched out her wings, getting rid off the kinks just like I do when I land (oh did I forget to mention, I'm a bird kid too? Well more on that later.) The second girl took off her blindfold and rubbed her eyes.

"You know you're not very…" she uncovered her eyes and noticed us. She looked confused at first and tilted her head looking like one of those puppies you see in the windows at pet stores. From puppy though she became deer in headlights.

"Eep! (did she really just say eep?) Sky! People!" she yelled. She ducked behind a tree and peered at us from behind it. The other girl tensed like she was listening for us.

"I don't hear or see anything," she answered. The tree-girl rolled her eyes and sighed.

"Well you need to take off your blindfold, silly goose."

"Macaw, Malley, how many times must I say it ma…" she took off her blindfold and saw us. She just stood there blinking at us, then she squinted, and then looked in every possible direction except at us, then back at us. We just stared back. She opened her mouth like she was gonna say something but just closed it. Now her friend was staring at her. She furrowed her brow then opened her mouth again. She just stood there for about a good two minutes not doing anything before she actually spoke.

"I have honestly no idea what to do," she said exasperated. Her friend came out from the trees and gave her a 'are you serious?' look. She found a sudden interest in her shoes. Her head snapped up and she grinned like a madman.

"Psyche!" she shouted and threw a small ball on the ground. We all tense but nothing happened. We all stared at it.

"Huh, funny, it was supposed to send smoke out…" she said, looking at it confused.

"You probably forgot to push the button," Ziggy said, he's good with bombs.

"Pssh, like I would forget to do that…" she stopped and looked at the bright orange button that obviously was neglected. She frowned and I think she threw the ball away.

I say I think because it was there one second and then it was gone. I blinked and looked around for it. I saw the rest of the gang doing the same thing, except for Kitten. She instead decided to be brave and walk up to the crazy girls. They tensed once again until Kitten smiled brightly at them.

"Hi!" she said ever so sweetly. The girls stared at her.

"You are so," the first girl started, "SO CUTE!!" She picked up Kitten and hugged her tightly. We all sighed, they may have been crazy but at least they weren't evil.

"I just wanna give you sweets and buy you cute clothes and give you mountains of toys! You're just so cute!" the girl cooed. Kitten just giggled. I rolled my eyes, Kitten already had all that stuff, or at least had. The girl put her down.

"My name is Kitten, and this is my family," she said gesturing to us. The girls looked at us, confused.

"You guys don't look like each other," the second one said.

"We aren't blood-related except for me and my sister and Kitten, my cousin, but we're still a family at heart," Chip replied using the same line my mom gave us. The girls looked as though they were going to burst into tears.

"That is so sweet," the first one said. The other girl nodded and wiped her eyes with her sleeve, drama queens, just what I ordered.

"So what are your names?" Kitten asked smiling again.

"My name is…" the second one started. You ever seen those scenes in cartoons were the crowd's heads go back and forth following an argument? That's how the next few minutes play by.

"Shhh, we're not supposed to give out secret information Malley!" the first one said.

"But your just said my name Sky!"

"I did not, Malley!"

"Yes, you did and you just said it again Sky!"

"Don't say my name!"

"But you said mine!"

"I did not Malley, oh crap I did!"

"See!"

"Well that throws that secret out the window, at least they don't know we have wings…crap," Sky said (in case you didn't follow, that would be the one who crashed into me).

"We kind of already knew that," said Mint. I especially already knew that, I think I had a bruise.

"Well, I guess we're just gonna have to kill you," Malley said.

"Really?" Sky and Kitten spoke at the same time. Malley gave Sky a look that said 'shut-up'.

"I doubt you could do anything," I said. Sky turned to look at me, I glared back.

"What makes you say that? Bird people are extremely strong," she replied confidently.

"I know," I unfurled my black, 14 foot wingspan wings, "cause I am one." This was the okay signal to the others to unfurl theirs as well. The girls just stared at each of us.

"Well that makes the situation better or worse. I'm thinking better," Sky said. I just shook my head in disbelief. These two, were they like us? Were there parents kidnapped? Why'd we never meet them before? My mom said that her flock was the only one. I put my wings back and side glanced at Ziggy but he was just looking at the girls.

"Where did you guys come from?" he asked, at least he was thinking. The girl Sky put her index finger on her forehead and tilted her head foreword, like it was out of habit. After a second she lifted her head.

"Well, like I said we're not supposed to say," replied Sky.

"Its not that we don't like you it's just that we're afraid and would prefer to never go back," explained Malley, she seemed to be serious but the giant smile on her face made me confused. I didn't get it. We're they really like us and being cautious or something else? I didn't like the chances of them putting my flock in danger if it was something else.

"If you're a family where's your parents?" asked Sky. Kitten's wings slouched and she kicked some dirt before answering.

"They're gone, bad people came and took them." The girls stood there, their feathers seemed to bristle almost as if the statement had caused them some pain.

"That's not right!" declared Malley, "families are supposed to stick together never be torn apart!" A fire seemed to start within her eyes when she said that. Sky seemed to pull out a handkerchief out of nowhere and dabbed her eyes. These girls seriously were drama queens.

Sky knelt down and bear hugged Kitten. "It's okay Kitten you'll find them, family always finds each other," she said with great confidence.

"Do you have family?" asked Mint.

"Yes, yes I do…what's your name?" Malley asked. I guess since they 'told' us their names it was only fair to introduce ourselves.

"I'm Mint and this is my twin brother, Chip," she gestured to her brother who tried to do a cool posed but epicly failed.

"Oh, so where's chocolate?" Sky asked.

"What?" Mint looked extremely confused. I didn't get it either.

"You have mint, you have chip, so where's chocolate? You can't be mint 'chocolate' chip without it! Oh no, don't tell my you lost chocolate! Noooo!" screeched Malley. Oh dear Lord (if he exists, I never really was religious), if these two girls are extremely insane in the membrane and we should leave now, please give me a sign. I waited nothing. So he obviously doesn't exist.

"Um, there is no chocolate," Mint said unsure of what else to say.

"Oh, well that's weird. Eh, that's fine, here have some chocolate," said Sky handing Mint a fairly good sized Hershey's that she pulled out of, oh I don't know, let's say it was her magical invisible purse. Was no one else noticing these objects disappearing and appearing out of nowhere?!

Mint gratefully took the candy and ate it. I guess it had been a while since we had anything even close to candy. So I don't like using what little we had for unnecessary sweets that would burn up her calories faster than they needed to, so sue me.

"So who are the two older gentlemen in the back?" Sky asked Mint. Older? Gentleman? Why the heck did she make it sound like I was 40-something!? My eye twitched and I put on my infamous scowl.

"My name is Ziggy and…" my best friend was then interrupted by a girl glomping (is that even really a word?) him.

"OMG! I love you name," cooed Malley. Ziggy's face turned beet red. I doubt he had eve been that close to a girl before. I laughed darkly to myself. They all turned to me.

"My name is Demon." I was impressed with myself with how evil I could sound and not even try that hard. Gotta love those genetics. Malley ducked behind Ziggy like she did with the tree. Sky's wings bristled again like she had just been shocked.

"I think I just died a little inside," she said. She put her hand over her heart as if to check if it was still beating. I smirked to myself, I was just that good.

"So where's your family?" asked Mint, polishing off her chocolate and now licking the excess off her fingers.

"Sky's my family," exclaimed Malley jumping out from behind Ziggy, who still was red in the face. That was gonna be a problem later on, I could already just tell. She ran over to Sky and glomped her.

"What you mean your sister?" Chip said. We all looked from girl to girl, they did look alike, except the height difference, Malley looked to be about 4 inches taller.

"Yep yep! Sky's my big sister, and I'm her little sister," Malley explained. I tried to disguise my snort as a cough. Big sister? Malley was practically towering her. Sky threw a glare at me, obviously noticing my badly disguised laugh.

"I'm sorry I didn't quite catch that, did you have something you want to say?" Sky said maintaining her weak glare. I smirked at her.

"I was just thinking, you're the older sister but you're short, and she's the younger sister but she's tall. That's just really funny," I laughed. The rest of the flock seemed to think so to as they snort/coughed too. Sky's glare became darker towards me.

"I hate you," she said. I maintained my composure; please she was going to have to do better than that to get under my skin.

"As for me, I'm okay with that," Malley exclaimed still hugging her sister. Sky glared at her sister.

"I'm too fond of you right now either _Mallet_," Sky said. Malley immediately let go of her vertically challenged sister. Sky crossed her arms and did an about face, she put her nose up in the air. She looked like one of those snooty British people you see on the TV.

"B-b-but we're family!" cried Malley, she actually looked like she was going to cry. I kinda felt sorry for her, emphasis on the kinda. "And you never call me by my full name Sky!"

"Well times change, Mallet O'Malley BoSally Fefifofalley oh-by-by-galley…"

"Smith!" Malley exclaimed happily, she went back to being sad when she saw Sky's face. Then she huffed and crossed her arms too. "Fine then, I guess I'll find a new sister, Skylor McPearson Yabadaba Learson Meriwether the 15, and she'll be taller to." Were those seriously their full names? What the hack were their parents on when they named these two? That didn't at all seem to be Sky's problem right now. She turned and faced Malley oh-something or other fiddle-faddle goodbye…Smith. Skylor mc-whatever yahoo lean-son good weather the 15…okay that didn't work out at all. Whatever! Sky is crying now!

"That-that went to far Malley," Sky sniffed. I rolled my eyes I was getting tired of these two. It was like watching of Ziggy's mom's soap operas, painfully boring.

"I'm sowwy Sky," she apparently was a baby now, "but you hurted me too." Malley did a good puppy dog pout, I'll give her that much.

"I'm sorry too, Malley," she held out her arms, "Sisters?" Malley hugged her sister.

"Sisters," she said. I could have sworn I heard a crowd of people AWW-ing, no really, I swear I did. Ziggy looked around trying to find out what it was too. The other three were too wrapped up in the drama to notice.

"This is too weird," I muttered. The two sisters looked over at me.

"What's your problem?" asked Sky. Did she really just ask me that? Oh, yes she really did.

"Well, for starters my parents are gone, then today I was crashed into by an insane bird-girl," Sky's eyes widen, yeah she figured it out, "now I've got two crazy girls practically reenacting a scene from a soap opera. My bad if I think that I have better things to do." Sky gave me a contemptuous look, I gave her one back.

"Who put a bee in your undies?" Malley asked. I rolled my eyes for the _n_th time that day.

"Dude, don't freak but there is a bee on your arm!" Ziggy said. I looked down at my arm. When did it even get there, I usually know when something lands on me, even a speck of dust. I kept my composure and just flicked it off. I looked up and Malley was giggling and Sky looked upset and confused. There was something strange about those two.

"_I usually don't miss by that much_," whisper Sky. She looked deep in thought.

"What do you mean?" I asked harshly. Sky jerked her head up and smiled innocently.

"Oh nothing, but look you really have nothing to be upset over," she said trying to be reassuring. Really, in my opinion I did.

"Yeah, at least you have parents!" Malley said smiling, she never ceased to amaze me…wait what?!

"MALLEY!" screeched Sky. These two really didn't have parents? But that would mean…

"Whoopsies," Malley giggled and covered her mouth.

**A/N: I hope you like it, my friend and I are co-writing this so it should be interesting. You can pretty much figure out whose kid is whose (at least i hope). Please stick around and review! I would very much appreciate it, though please no flames, be constuctive with your feedback. Oh! and I'll diclaim here.**

**I DO NOT Maxium Ride or any of the original characters, those all go to the great writer James patterson. The other charaters and plot line are mine however**

**byes~ Defiance out.**


	2. The Glass is Completely Full

"_Yeah, at least you have parents!" Malley said smiling, she never ceased to amaze me…wait what?!_

_"MALLEY!" screeched Sky. These two really didn't have parents? But that would mean…_

_"Whoopies," Malley giggled and covered her mouth._

"What did she mean by that?" I asked sternly. I was done with secrets. I glared at Sky for answers. She just avoided it.

"I told you we can't tell," she replied.

"That's total B.S.!" I yelled at her. If these two were in anyway dangerous or had something to do with our parent's disappearance I wanted to know and I wanted to know NOW.

"I already said…" she was cut off by me stomping over to her to where I was only mere inches away. She leaned back a little but stood her ground. She was completely taken aback.

"Tell us or I'll make you tell," I growled. Her eyes widen at the pure anger flowing from me. I glared at her so hard it would have bored a hole straight through her. She blinked a few times rapidly, and then seemed to regain herself. She stood straight and glared right back.

"Okay, first off, back up because my face needs space," she said pushing me back. I only went a few steps. "Secondly," she held up two fingers to emphasis her point, "You can't tell me what to do, and thirdly, I'd like to see you try." She crossed her arms and gave me a challenging glare.

I smirked at her idiocy. She might have strong super human strength but so did I. And not to sound sexist but I'm pretty sure I could beat a girl.

"You asked for it," I jeered.

"Bring it pretty boy," she barked back. The expression she had when I disappeared from sight was priceless. She went from overly self-confident to horribly confused. I could tell she was listening for me to make any sound at all. Unfortunately for her, I actually pay attention to were I step. I got behind her and put my arm around her neck and squeezed. She gasped and looked even more confused as she struggled to get whatever was choking her.

Okay, I'm not evil. I wasn't gonna kill her. I just wanted to spook and shake her enough to were she would speak. If she knew anything about our parents or if she was some kinda spy, I needed to know. I was gonna protect my flock.

"SKYLOR!" yelled Malley as she watched her sister struggle to get air. She looked just as confused. She had no idea what was hurting her sister. By now Sky was trying to pry off my invisible arm but I held steady. I wasn't letting her off that easy. Malley's eyes brighten all of a sudden.

"Sky! Sky! Chomp chomp!" she yelled. What the heck did that mean..."OW!" She bit me. The little munchkin bit me. I immediately let go of her and swung her off my arm, by now I was visible again. She staggered away and spit out some blood. Yeah that's right, blood. Little bitsy bird drew _**blood**_. My blood! I inspected the bite mark carefully. It looked shallow but I didn't know what had been in her mouth. I was so focused on my wound I didn't notice her come up to me.

"Here," she said handing me some Neosporin and some band-aids (where the heck did she get them from?). I took them, I kinda felt bad about choking her now.

"Thanks," I replied tersely. I put the medication and band-aid on. I handed he back the stuff. She just waved her hand and it was gone. I was a bit freaked…when I say a bit I mean a lot.

"We don't have parents because we were born in a lab," she said. She still sounded ticked. We all were silent though listening to her.

"Sky and me, we're-we're experiments," said Malley, the girl looked genuinely sad.

"We've been running from them for about 5 years now," Sky explained. Malley looked as if she was going to cry. I saw Ziggy contemplate whether he should comfort her or not. I know this was a sad moment and all and I should have been respectful but my mom taught me that it's better to get all your information at once.

"Whose them?" I asked. My flock gave me a look basically saying I should stop pestering them. Like I said though, it's just better.

"The nasty birds! The Shredders!" said Malley. She made a "grr" face and made her hands in the shape of claws. It was kinda funny to see a girl who looked like she wouldn't hurt a fly try to look evil. But if what she said was true then these two were okay by me.

Our parents told us stories of Erasers, wolf-men who tried to kill them, well let's just say that Shredders were ten times worse. Shredders were just as she said, nasty birds. They looked like humans covered in feathers with blood red eyes and razor sharp claws. They also had beaks that housed two rows of crookedly sharp teeth. They couldn't speak or do much else than just try and kill us.

I didn't think they had actually fought the Shredders more like run away. They just didn't seem like fighters. Malley like I said earlier looked like she wouldn't hurt a fly and Sky was just too small to fight. They probably just flew fast and into a crowded area.

"Where did you guys come from?" I asked. I got the look again.

"Not that I'm overly-enthusiastic about your extreme all-knowing fetish," Sky said. The flock stifled their laughs. "I just think that I shouldn't give out information to people who I hardly even know, especially those with a tendency to disappear."

"Fine will talk later right now we need to find a safer place, you know without a gigantic I hole in the canopy," I replied pointing to the gap in the trees the girls had created coming in for their crash landings. Sky and Malley both looked up at the same time.

"Whoops," said Sky.

"Awwww, poor trees," Malley whined. She went up and hugged the closest tree and started frantically whispering her apologies. I gave Sky a questioning look, she just mouth '_don't ask'_. She went over and wrestled to get Malley off the tree.

"Malley let go!" Sky ordered tugging at her sister's waist. The younger girl had a rock hard grip on that tree though.

"No!" she yelled like a stubborn three-year old. Sky pulled harder, this reminded me so much of a cartoon.

"Malley I said let go!" Sky ordered again. Malley seemed to hug the tree harder and death glared at her sister.

"And I said no! Mr. Oak needs comfort right now! He just lost 57 feet of his limbs!" she complained. How did she even know that? Was she making it up? I looked at Kitten, the girl had a supercomputer brain and could find out practically anything. I saw her with a look of complete concentration, soon her eyes lifted up and she looked at me. I had a static-y felling in my brain telling me that she was about to say something.

"_She's right! I mean it's accurately 56.739 feet but still…" _she left my brain. I looked at the two girls still struggling with one another. There was something defiantly strange with them.

"Malley you'd better let go or else!" Sky threatened. Malley glared at her sister again.

"Or else what?" Malley challenged.

"Or else I won't give you your teddy bear tonight," Sky growled, her eyes were narrow slits now. Where these girls being serious? How many questions had I asked myself this day already? And about them?

"HUH! Not Peanut Jelly! You wouldn't dare!" Malley gasped.

"OH, I would," Sky said. Malley looked defeated and let the tree go. There were indentions where her arms wrapped around it. My eyes widen, maybe that girl wasn't as weak as I thought. I put it out of my mind, right now we needed to find a place to rest, the sun was going down already.

I motioned for the flock to follow me. I started heading toward the denser trees, Ziggy pulled on Malley's sleeve, telling her to follow. Her and Sky were right behind him.

Did I really want the crazy girls to follow us? No, not at all. Did I have much of a choice? No, not at all. What's the point of being in charge if you don't even have a say? I guess I'd have to discuss that with the flock later. Right now I was trying to navigate the forests of Montana.

Why were we in Montana you ask? Easy, loads of mountains and forests , great places to hide a flock of bird kids on the run from evil bird mutants. It's kind of ironic to call the Shredders mutants when we aren't the most normal people out there either.

I looked behind me to see how everyone was holding up. Kitten and Mint were hanging in there but they both looked like they were about to drop. I knew hadn't gotten nearly enough calories for our bodies to work that well. I felt bad, I mean I was the leader after all. It was my job to take care of my flock, like my mom did.

My mom, the thought of her being gone along with my dad made my heart tighten, but I didn't cry, I had to be strong (its that whole leader thing again). She protected her flock for years and was still the leader even though they had all grown-up. I always heard stories of their adventures and reporters still came to our doors looking for interviews with the Winged-Wonder Woman. I couldn't blame them, I men she did save the world and I bet she hardly ever let her flock go without the right amount of food.

I kept trudging up the mountain searching for a good spot and knowing I'd need to find food for all of us, plus two. I groaned inwardly and glance back at the (unwanted) additions. Malley was chatting away with Ziggy who hardly got a word in but still seemed to enjoy himself. Sky just stared blankly all around her, not really paying attention to where she was headed. She caught me looking at her, she glared back. I guess she hasn't gotten over the whole choking thing. Good, I looked down at the band-aid, because I still hadn't gotten over the whole biting thing.

I found what I thought would make a good rest stop. It had lots of trees with thick branches and a big enough spot to make a fire.

"Okay gang, we're stopping here tonight," I said. The three youngest practically collapsed.

"Finally, I'm tired and so hungry," whined Chip. I rolled my eyes, but I knew he wasn't exaggerating. They all needed food.

"I'll start a fire," Ziggy offered.

"Fine, but try to keep it contained this time," I warned. Last night we would have nearly burned down the entire forest if the lake hadn't been nearby. Ziggy had a guilty look on his face.

"Oooh a fire! I wanna see! You can start a fire? How do you start a fire?" Malley asked excitedly. She latched onto his arm and his face turned red. I rolled my eyes, Ziggy had the weirdest taste.

"Alright, I'm off," I said, I prepared to take off.

"Why don't you take Sky with you." I froze and stared at Ziggy. Was he being serious, Sky must have thought the same thing because she was giving him the same look.

"Look, it makes since, with two of you, you'll have a better chance of finding food, and be able to carry more too. Plus if Shredders attack you the odds are better with two," he explained. Malley nodded frantically beside him with a giant grin plastered on her face. Sky shrugged.

"I'll go," she sighed. She made it sound like she was doing me a favor. I glared at her for the millionth time that day.

"Fine but only if you can keep up," I said and leaped into the air.

"Demon don't…" Ziggy's words were lost as I kicked it in to overdrive. I smiled as the world moved into a blur. You gotta love genetics. I stopped as a saw some lights of a city. I looked behind me; there was no way she could catch up with now. I dove down into the city.

"Sorry, he did that," I apologized, "Sometimes Demon can be a little prideful." I looked up but he was long gone. I turned back to Sky, she too was looking up.

"So he can go fast?" she asked.

"Yeah, like I said sorry…"

"That's so cool!" she smiled. That startled me; I guess nothing could really get her or her sister down. Sky unfurled her wings and took off.

"Well, I'm off, the nearest city isn't too far, so maybe I'll still be able to find him," she said. She was gone, her blue wings mixing in with the faded blue sky. I turned back to the circle of rocks I made to control the fire. Malley dumped another pile of twigs in the center.

"Is that enough?" she asked sweetly. She smiled big again. I felt my face go hot again. I couldn't help it, she was just really cute and not many girls at my school could look past the wings on my back.

"Yeah, thanks, we can start the fire now," I said trying to act normal, "So do you and your sister always see the glass as half full?"

"What? Oh, no way! It's completely full!" she giggled.

I dove down into the city and landed in a dark alley. I adjusted my jacket to make my wings unnoticeable. Sure the whole world knew about us, but in times of a crisis you stay under wraps. I stepped out into the street, there was practically no one out, and it must have been past the town's curfew or something. I was just looking for a McDonald's or any other fast-food with a Dumpster (desperate times call for desperate measures). I walked down the street trying not to call attention to myself. It was so silent that I nearly had a heart attack when a heard a cat meow. I calmed myself down, this was no time to freak out I just needed to get food.

"Hey Demon."

"Holy crap!" I yelled turning around and seeing Sky, "Where'd you come from?!" She looked confused.

"I thought I already answered that," she said. I mentally slapped my forehead, was this girl really that dense?

"No, I meant, oh never mind! Come on we need to find a fast-food place, and fold in your wings," I ordered her. She did as she was told; folding her wings in and tucking them close to her back. She smiled up at me once she was done. I just rolled my eyes and started walking again. I could hear her footsteps behind me; at least it broke the unnerving silence from before.

I saw a giant neon burger sign a little ways away. The place was called the 'Burger Monster'; the sign was a giant, insane looking burger with its contents spilling out everywhere. Oh yes, that looked extremely appetizing.

"Come on lets head around back," I said. We moved silently around the building. They had a Dumpster, and from the smell I got, they had just deposited today's leftovers. I opened the Dumpster as quietly as possible. I got a full whiff of cheeseburgers, fries, and some leftover fruit pies. I motioned for Sky to get closer but also to be quiet. She quickly came over and had apparently found a bag in the last two seconds I was looking at her. I just ignored it and started dropping in the good stuff. The stuff that hadn't touched the sides or the anything that didn't look like food anymore. When the bag was full another one seemed to appear, I only stopped for a second but I decided I'd ask about it later. Soon we had enough.

"Come on that's enough," I whispered. She nodded and handed me a bag after she rolled the top up to keep in the heat. We walked casually to the front and down the street.

"Wait, what about drinks?" Sky asked grabbing my arm to stop my brisk pace.

"They can deal," I said, "We don't have time to get drinks anyway." She gave me an incredulous stare and glanced around.

"There," she said pointing to an old, beat up, soda vending machine.

"Yes, that'd be great if I had change," I remarked sarcastically. She went over there anyway and pulled me with her. She inspected the machine carefully. She gave it a few good hits and stood back.

"What was that supposed to…" I started but then seven cold sodas came out of the machine and I shut-up. She smirked and put the dinks in another bag.

"You ready?" She asked still smiling.

"Yeah, let's go," I replied and walked into an alley.

"Hey, no super-speed this time please," she said. I just smirked at her.

"Why? Can't keep up?" I asked.

"Well, no duh silly. I can't go as nearly as fast as you. You go as fast Maximum Ride! Do you know her?" she asked. My heart skipped a beat as she said my mom's name. I stopped and tried to control the rush of memories and emotions. Sky stared at me inquisitively.

"Are you okay?" she asked innocently. She acted as if she hadn't asked something that was killing me. But then again I guess she wasn't because she didn't even know.

"I'm…" Someone came out of the shadows.

"Hey who are you kids?" the person came closer to us from the street. Sky backed up next to me.

"Answer me!" they yelled. They were a few feet away.

"Fly," I whispered to Sky. She nodded and unfurled he wings and leapt into the air, I followed her. The person down below gaped at us. I saw a flash. Crap, we would probably be tomorrow's headline. We flew back to our makeshift camp; it was silent the whole time. That is except for Sky's wings flapping in the air. Good, I hated silence.

**A/n: yay! i got this out, i probably will only be able to update on the weekends cuz of school. but tell what you think and be constructive!!! **

**bye! Defiance out~**


	3. Can You Bear the Burden

"_Fly," I whispered to Sky. She nodded and unfurled her wings and leapt into the air, I followed her. The person down below gaped at us. I saw a flash. Crap, we would probably be tomorrow's headline. We flew back to our makeshift camp; it was silent the whole time. That is except for Sky's wings flapping in the air. Good, I hated silence._

"Ah, so warm," Malley sighed as she warmed her hands by the now blazing fire. Demon and Sky hadn't come back yet and the younger kids were starting to complain. I tried to find maybe some berries or something but it was late fall and all the fruit plants were dead by now.

"I don't want to be warm, I want to be full," complained Chip. Malley stared at him.

"Full of what?" she asked. Chip looked confused for a second.

"Uh, food," he answered.

"What kind of food?" she asked. At least she stopped him from complaining. I stole a glance at the sky, nothing yet. Maybe they're slower from the weight of all the food.

"I don't know. It's whatever Demon brings back with your whacked-out sister," Chip replied annoyed now from hunger and Malley's, uh, not-so-smart questions. I gave him a glare. He realized what he just said and looked a little worried. She didn't seem to notice.

"You put your lives in the hands of a demon?" she asked. She looked exactly like a five year old, as if she really was that…not smart.

"No, no, not a demon, Demon, the boy," I explained. She still looked lost. "You know, the one with the black wings, choked your sister? Ringing any bells?" She looked deep in thought.

"Nope, I have no idea who you're talking about," she said with a sincere smile. I broke into a smile while the other three laughed loudly. It had been a while since I had heard them laugh, not since our parents went missing. My smile quickly faded. I then heard the beating of wings and looked up. Two dark figures where descending upon us. Gosh, that sounded emo.

"What's so funny?" Demon asked as he landed next to me, Sky touched down between the kids and her sister.

"Nothing," Mint giggled out. Demon looked at her suspiciously and I myself had to hold in my laughter.

"Yay! Sky, did you bring food?" Malley asked jumping up and grabbing her sister. The height difference between the two really was funny.

"Yep, I got burgers and fruit pies…" she couldn't finish her sentence on account she was then attacked by four children, one being four inches taller than her, the others extremely hungry bird-kids. I watched amazed as the kids practically dog (or is it bird in this case?)-piled on Sky. She was drowning in a swarm of feathers and food but she still seemed to be having fun.

"Should we do something?" I asked Demon. He just shook his head and handed me a Coke. He opened one for himself too; unfortunately little kids heard the fizzy sound of carbonated air releasing. They all stopped and looked at him like a pack of wild hyenas. Demon just nonchalantly took a sip of his drink and took a side step as Chip made a grab at him. He then went invisible, his drink disappeared with him.

"If you want your drinks and more then you have to behave and not attack me," he said appearing in a tree. The kids, plus Malley, stood underneath the tree.

"You couldn't say that before?" Sky demanded as she stood up. Her hair and clothes were a complete mess.

"You seemed to be in control," Demon replied. Sky glared at him and Demon just smiled slyly. The kids were now getting antsy.

"Just give us the food Derek!" Malley yelled. Demon nearly fell out of the tree.

"What did you call me?" he asked disbelievingly.

"Derek, that is your name right?" she asked confused. We all tried to control our laughs.

"No, it's not," he replied. Malley looked at him in confusion.

"Um, is it Dennis?" she asked.

"No."

"Daniel? David? Darkboy? Dart?" she asked, Demon shook his head at all of them. He now had what I thought would be a permanent scowl on his face.

"My name is Demon, de-mon! Not that hard to remember," he said. Malley looked even more confused.

"Really because you look more like a Sam to me," she replied. Demon stared at her in disbelief. Sky was clutching her sides laughing.

"Just take your food," Demon said defeated as he threw the food to them. They practically jumped for it but Malley got it first, since she was taller. She evenly distributed the food to us. Sky took the food in her bag and did the same. Soon we were all heating up burgers and fries and pies on sticks over the fire.

"Ahh, I'm so full," Chip said as he laid back on a log and patted his stomach, "By the way I am gonna belch."

"You might want to cover your ears," I warned Malley and Sky. Everyone else had already done so.

"Why?" Sky asked.

"Just trust me," I answered and covered my own. The two quickly followed the suit. Soon Chip opened his mouth and let one out. Then the ground shook and the birds nearby flew away. When Chip burps, he really burps. It was over soon, but the sound still echoed through the mountain. We uncovered our ears. Malley and Sky seemed a bit shaken.

" `Scuse me," Chip said, his bright green eyes filled with mischief.

"I think I'm deaf in one ear now," Sky said. Demon rolled his eyes and clapped his hands, signaling that it was flock meeting time.

As soon as I clapped my flock was at attention, I had taught them well. Though two certain girls were still not quite with us. Malley trying to coax a squirrel to come over to her and Sky was, I guess checking her hearing. I gave Ziggy a look telling him to get their attention. He tapped Malley on the shoulder and motioned for her to listen, Malley got Sky to focus, sort of, she was still digging in her ear.

"Okay, look, before we discuss the new additions to our group," I said.

"I love how I'm referred to as an object," Sky muttered. I ignored her and continued.

"We are going to have to move on tomorrow morning. Some geek may have gotten some pics of me and Sky tonight. It may have just been a cellphone camera but nowadays those things can be consider actual cameras," I explained. They didn't complain, they looked upset, but they understood. Understood we couldn't afford to be found out.

"So where to?" Ziggy asked.

"I was thinking of going to the East Coast this time, maybe Maine or something," I answered.

"Can't we go somewhere warm? It's fall, by now all the northern states have snow," Mint complained. I knew they didn't like the cold but the northern states had more coniferous trees which where good for hiding in.

"I'm sorry, I don't like the cold either but we need to hide, and we need places with mountains and lots of trees," I explained. Mint nodded but still looked upset. I felt kinda bad, but I was the leader and needed to stick to my word, and not seem weak.

"So what about them?' Chip asked jutting his thumb out at the wonder twins.

"They will come with us, if they answer a few questions," I said looking over at them.

"Fine, we'll answer some questions, if answer some of ours." Sky said, I was about to object when she continued, "To make it fair, both of us will get to ask you one question each and each of you will get to ask us one question each, that's 12 questions per group." It seemed fair; I looked at Kitten for any sign of a scam. She just nodded; telling me it was in fact even.

"Oh and each person gets one pass, and if one person passes the question then you can't ask someone else that question and you'll have to ask that person a different question," she added. Again Kitten gave the confirmation nod.

"Okay, I'll start," I said, finally the appearing and reappearing objects puzzle could be solved.

"Nuh-uh, not so fast mister, younger ones go first," Sky protested. I was going to object but Kitten interrupted me.

"Are your names really Mallet O'Malley BoSalley Fefifofalley oh-by-by Galley Smith and Skylor McPearson Yabadaba Learson Meriwether the 15?" she asked. "The question is for Sky." The two had big smiles on.

"Yep! Those really are our names, when we got away from the bad people we decided to get names and we named each other," Sky answered, at least that explained why their names were ridiculous. "Though someone took three months to come up with one." She glared at Malley accusingly. Malley shrunk under her sister's glare.

"I said I was sorry Sky! I had to think of the perfect name!" defended Malley though she still slouched.

"Three months Malley," Sky held up three fingers, "three months of not being able to answer people when they asked my name, three months of being called 'you' and 'big sissy', not fun, Malley, not fun."

"Alright, Malley, how come you're taller than Sky?" Kitten asked. We all laughed again. Sky frowned while Malley straightened back up.

"Cause I wished to be big so I became big, Sky didn't wish hard enough," she answered with all seriousness.

"Okay, Chip or Mint, whichever one of you clones is youngest can ask," Sky said still a little ticked at Kitten's question. Chip smiled triumphantly, he was younger by five minutes (for those of you who didn't get that, that means that Mint is older by 5 minutes).

"How old are you, both of you? This counts as both my questions," Chip explained.

"Well, I am roughly 14 years old," Sky said. Seriously? She was only a year younger than me? She acted like an eleven-year old, and she was defiantly as tall as one. I smiled inwardly to myself at my joke.

"And I'm 13 years old," Malley chimed in. Okay the height was more reasonable on her, but character-wise, not so much. She was exactly Ziggy's age though.

"Okay, Minty-fresh, your turn," Sky said. Mint grinned, I guess she liked her new nick name.

"Um, at the lab you were made, what did they call you there?" she asked. I guess that was valuable in some way. Maybe those names would be easier to remember.

"Well, besides freak, they called Malley Experiment # 25769, and I am Experiment # 25768, at your service," Sky answered. So there were 25767 more of them? Crap.

"What happened to the other 25767?" Mint asked. They hesitated. Malley glanced over at her sister, Sky put her index finger on her forehead and leaned forward a little. She glanced over at Malley, who looked worried. Sky bit her lip, sighed and gave a slight nod. Malley nodded back and tried to look unfazed.

"According to the bad men, the others died or were either," she side-glanced at Sky, who gave her a slight nod, she continued, "the others who didn't die were taken away to become the Shredders." My eyes widen, so they could have easily become Shredders. We were silent for a moment. Ziggy spoke up.

"So why were you made?" he asked. That was the million-dollar question.

"We honestly don't know," Sky answered, "they weren't very talkative and most of the time we were in cages." They really were like our parents, growing up in a lab, in a dog cage.

"Then how come you're not Shredders?" he asked. They seemed to be happier with this question. They smiled at one another as if sharing an inside joke.

"Because every time they came near one of us, the other would attack," Malley said, "When they came for Sky, I would break them and when they came for me, Sky would hurt them. So they never even touched us really, only when they drugged us."

"What did you mean by break them?" I asked. I tried to picture a small Malley breaking a white coat.

"I mean this," she said walking over to a log. She picked it up and when she got a good grip on it, she snapped it in half. My mouth dropped and Ziggy's eyes widen. That girl had some strength. She made snapping a log in half, one that was pretty thick, look like child's play. We were strong but not that strong. Note to self, don't get the tall one angry.

"I hope you know that that was your first question," Sky said. She was completely unfazed by her sister's feat. She was like, 'yeah, breaking logs? No big.' I was a little ticked that I spent my first question.

"Fine, I just want to know how you make things appear out of no where," I said. Sky leaned back and thought about it for a minute.

"Pass."

"What?" I said, I had to control myself. I really wanted to wring her neck…again.

"I said, pass. What do you need a hearing aid," she replied sounding annoyed. I glared at her.

"Whatever," I thought for a minute on how to change my question without really changing it, "What is your power? Your sister is extremely powerful, so what can you do?" Sky sat there, probably thinking of a way to avoid the question.

"I'm extremely random," she answered. I nearly fell off my log. The flock started to laugh again.

"That's not anything!" I yelled. I was extremely frustrated now. Why couldn't she just cooperate? God! I hate girls! And no that does not mean I'm gay.

"Oh really? When was the last time you did something completely random? Huh, huh, huh?" she defended. She was acting like a 10 year old, an annoying 10 year old.

"I don't have time to be random, plus there is no point to it," I retorted. She looked as if I had just said something of unspeakable evil. I rolled my eyes.

"Well then you're no fun at all, are you?" she responded. The flock was watching and listening intently, no one ever started a fight with me. I narrowed my eyes.

"Like I said before, I don't have time for fun, I need to protect my family," I glanced at Malley, "Something you barely have." Sky's face went red at that statement. I knew I had hit a sensitive spot. This little 'fight' was over. I looked over at the flock.

"Its time to go to sleep…"

"Why are you such a JERK!?" Sky yelled at me. She was standing now, her face was twisted by anger and her wings were bristling every few seconds. I stood up too.

"What did you say?" I asked her with venom in my voice. She didn't back down at all.

"I asked you why you're such a jerk! That's my question to you. Actually I think I'll be more specific," she growled.

"Sky, I think you need to…" Malley tugged at her sister's sleeve but Sky brushed her off. She was beyond furious now and so was I.

"I want to know how such a jerk like you can even be a leader. What do you do to make them listen to you, huh? Do you hit them? Beat them? Yell at them until they listen?" she yelled. The flock stared wide-eyed at her. I was trying to control my temper; she didn't deserve to die, just a few good hits, maybe more than a few.

"Sky, maybe you should stop…" Malley tried again but her sister just brushed her off like before. I could faintly feel Kitten trying to get into my mind but I pushed her away, now was not the time.

"In fact I bet your parents weren't even kidnapped," She wouldn't dare… "I bet they ran away and left you behind cause they were tired of dealing with you!" That did it. I snapped. I launched myself at her as I roared with anger. We crashed into a tree and started to roll down the mountain. You're probably thinking 'Why don't you just fly?' Well, for starters I'm rolling down a mountain at a fast pace over rocks and other various sharp things, plus I'm also fighting a girl in the process. So let's see you try to spread your wings and fly.

"Family-less freak!" I yelled at her. I got a punch on her then I hit a rock, ouch.

"Egotistical jerkface!" she yelled back. She managed to get me stomach. We rolled off a cliff and down into some bushes. Prickly bushes.

"Lab rat! Insane!" I yelled, I'll be honest I have no idea if I kicked her or the ground.

"Leader fetish!"

"Vampire!" I yelled as we fell off another cliff and into a lake. I open my eyes underwater and it stung really bad but I kept them open to know which way was up. I surfaced and gasped for air. I looked around for Sky. She hadn't come up yet. I felt something tug me down. When I resurfaced I saw Sky laughing at me.

"Your face was-gasp-hilarious!" she laughed as she gasped for air. I rolled my eyes and splashed water at her.

"Says the girl with 8 different kinds of plants in her hair," I retorted. I wasn't really angry anymore. I guess the freezing cold water cooled me down. I swam towards the shore; I felt her right behind me. I pushed myself out of the water; I began to pick out the bigger stickers. Sky removed the plants from her hair and was wringing out her clothes. I practically collapsed exhausted. She sat down next to me. I glanced at her. She had loads of scraps and cuts on her face and arms. Her clothes were full of stickers and rips. I was pretty sure I didn't look any better.

"Here," she said handing me a towel out of no where. I still didn't get it, but I accepted the towel anyway. I started drying off my face feeling the stings as I bushed over the scraps.

"Sorry," I looked at her questioningly, but she wasn't looking at me, "Sorry for saying those things. I didn't mean it." She huffed, like apologizing was a hard thing for her to do. She wasn't the only one in that boat.

"I'm sorry too, about what I said, and choking you earlier," I apologized. Why couldn't it be easy?

"Sorry for biting you," she said this time looking at me. I shrugged and started drying my hair.

"No biggie, it'll heal. By the way do still have that Neosporin?" I asked. She immediately handed it to me. I guess I'll learn to ignore it. I took it and practically emptied the bottle on the cuts on my arms. I handed it back to her; it instantly filled once she touched it. She used it on herself.

I wasn't paying much attention to anything until I felt a sting on my face. I turned to face Sky. She had a cotton ball in her hand and some rubbing alcohol in the other. She waited patiently until I let her continue. I saw her smiling out of the corner of my eye. The pain eventually became nothing and she was soon finished. The bloody cotton ball disappeared. A new appeared and she put the alcohol on it and tried to do her own face.

"Give it to me before you get it in your eye," I said holding out my hand. She looked a little cautious at first but subsided. I got finished pretty quick, I handed her the cotton ball (guess what happened to it, I'll give you three tries.). She looked up the mountain.

"Guess we should get going," she said. I just nodded and stood up and offered her my hand. She accepted and I pulled her up. It was a truce, for now. I spread my wings out. She tried to unfurl hers but stopped and grimaced in pain.

"Nope, someone doesn't want to fly," she said looking at her wings. I rolled my eyes, how could she make this bad situation funny?

"You probably sprained it," I said, she gave me a look, "What?"

"How am I supposed to get up there without wings," she said, by the tone of her voice it wasn't really a question.

"I don't know," I replied, she gave me that look again; I got it finally, "No way."

"Oh come on! It's your fault I'm hurt!" she whined.

"My fault? How's it my fault?" I asked sternly. I wasn't giving up on this one.

"I'm sorry, but I don't recall jumping off this mountain. I do however remember a boy pushing me," she retorted. She had me there, but still there was no way.

"I'm not dragging you back up the mountain, you can walk," I said back. I had a gut feeling that I was going to lose, but I fought it.

"Nuh-uh, I'm not walking. Why can't you just carry me?" she asked, her arms were crossed and she stood tall (irony).

"Because, I said so," great now I was the kid, "besides you probably weigh a lot." I was desperate now. She probably didn't even weigh over a hundred pounds. She looked at me incredulously.

"That's a lame excuse," she retorted. She was right but it was the only one I had.

"Too bad," I said weakly, she moved closer until she was only inches away. She grabbed my collar and pulled me down so I was eye level with her.

"Either you carry me or you'll face the consequences," she snapped. I got the feeling that that wasn't an empty threat. My eyes widen as hers narrowed. I gave in.

"Fine," I said trying to maintain my pride. I knocked her hand away. She smiled brightly up at me. My pride went out the window. I held her around her stomach. I hated myself.

"This is so much more fun when being carried," she said. I rolled my eyes.

"Don't get to used to it," I said back.

"Hope your ready for your onslaught of questions tomorrow," she laughed attempting to sound scary. Key word is attempting.

"Yeah, yeah whatever," I sighed.

"You need to expand your vocabulary," she replied, looking up at me. I looked down at her and smirked.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," I said. She huffed and crossed her arms; she went back to looking at the mountain scenery. These girls were going to be quite a burden. Some lyrics from a song I knew popped into my head '_Can you bear the burden?_' I sighed and looked down at her; she was excited looking from thing to thing. I sighed again. As I landed I only thought one thing when I saw her and her sister shouting, '_I don't think I can but I'm sure WE can._'

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**A/N: Yay! This one came out quick. ^-^ *proud of herself* I guess it helps to be out of school. Thank you MLK! Also thanks to you guys who reveiwed.**

**Maxride333****: well I have to stop writing to eat and sleep but I guess I can stop that. lol**

**.'-CutePrisonBreak-'.****: Thx! This is actually based loosely off of me and the co-writer and how we act, but yeah without the wings. ^-^**

**All The Pretty Corpses: I'm continuing! I'm continuing!**

**Stop. But don't stare please****: I tried to hint at it in the beginning and thx for reviewing…and screaming **xD

**Sillysally****: There might be sometime soon, right now I'm working on getting some other surprises out. But keep on the look out for it and if you don't see it soon just review again and I'll be sure to get it done. ^-^**

**Okay so I don't own any of the original characters of Maximum Ride or any of the ideas, those all belong to James Patterson. I do however own all of my OC's so don't use them without my permission, ~_~ *thats an angry serious face*, really all you have to do is ask.**

**I'll update soon! oh and before i forget, the song is 'Her Portriat in Black' by Ateyu**

**Byes, ~Defiance out~**


	4. A League of Their Own, no, not the movie

_I sighed and looked down at her; she was excited looking from thing to thing. I sighed again. As I landed I only thought one thing when I saw her and her sister shouting, '__**I don't think I can but I'm sure WE can.'**_

"So Chip, Would you rather, eat a burger made of boogers or kiss a rabid raccoon?" Malley asked. EW, where did she come up with this stuff?

"Uh, is the raccoon tranquilized?" Chip asked uncertainly. Malley thought about it for a while.

"Hmm, no, it's awake," she replied with that signature smile on her face. Chip was lost in thought for a while, which trust me rarely happens.

"I guess I'd kiss the raccoon, I don't think I could stomach a booger burger," he laughed. Ziggy laughed too, while Angel and Mint exchanged grossed-out looks, and then ended up giggling. I felt my mouth twitch up into a smile but then quickly return to back into just a line on my face.

For the past hour Sky's and Malley's questions had just been 'would you rather do this or that?', occasionally there'd be a 'if you could, would you…?'. We eventually just turned it into a game, no longer caring how many questions where asked. It passed the time and kept the Flock preoccupied as we flew towards Maine. I stole a glance at Sky and her wrapped up wing. She had fast a recovering time but it was sore. I felt a smidge guilty, a _smidge_.

**Earlier that day:**

Before we left we had to go get breakfast, since Sky's wing was sore Ziggy and I went instead. I was a bit worried about leaving the Flock with some girls who I hardly knew and who seemed a bit off their rockers, but Ziggy convinced me it was the only way.

Apparently Malley was a slow flyer, well slower, due to her short wingspan. I looked back at her. She had to beat her wings rapidly to keep herself up. She reminded me of a green hummingbird. It fit her.

When we got into town no was out yet and the sun was just then coming up. We quickly went to the 'Burger Monster' with its oh-so appealing sign. We tried to find stuff that looked edible. We weren't that lucky since we cleared it up pretty much yesterday. We looked for another place. We found a quaint little house restaurant that had a small dumpster on the side. We didn't find a whole lot there but the Flock could manage.

When Zig and I returned to our little rest area we saw that Sky had her wing wrapped (with a bandage that she got out of her big invisible purse again) and she and her sister were showing the kids how to play some word game.

"Breakfast is served," I said and held our food in the bags for yesterday. They didn't attack me like they did Sky last night, these kids aren't morning people. I passed out the pastries that we got from the picturesque restaurant. They of course gobbled them up. I handed one to Sky.

"Where'd the bandage come from?" I asked knowing I wouldn't get a straight answer. Sky took a bite of her pastry and smiled at me.

"If you were random then you'd know," she answered still smiling. She took another bite of her pastry getting icing and dough flakes all on herself. I left it at that though and ate my own breakfast.

"Okay guys we're headed for Maine," I announced after we were all done eating. They didn't seem all to thrilled to be going father up north when it was getting closer to winter. Though two certain girls had giant, icing-covered smiles on their faces.

"If we go to Maine can we eat some lobster?" I hear they have great lobster up there," Malley said. She's always Miss Glass is half-full or as Ziggy told me, completely full, whatever that meant. "I think lobster would be great! What about you Sky?"

"I don't like shellfish," Sky responded, her face filled with disgust. So I guess the girl-wonder had a weakness in the form of crustaceans, who knew. Malley though couldn't be chipper. She kept on smiling, it almost made me want to sing and dance about happiness. But that'll happen about as soon as Ziggy becomes a girl and the Twins aren't twins anymore and Kitten is suddenly dumb and un-cute. Yeah, **never **gonna happen.

**Now**

"Hmm, I'd have to say I would go for the purple butter, I couldn't stand being a jellyfish for the rest my life," Ziggy said. Chip had just asked him if he'd rather eat purple radioactive butter or be a jellyfish for the rest of his life. I rolled my eyes at the weird questions, this was so pointless.

"_If you were random then you'd know." _Sky's words just popped into my head. I didn't get it at all. What did being random have to do with anything? I glanced back at her. She was just laughing her head off at Kitten's answer to Ziggy's question. Her blue wings kinda melded into the sky, I wonder if that was why Malley named her that. Suddenly a thought occurred to me. I swooped closer to her.

"Hey, Sky why'd you name Malley, well Malley?" I asked. She looked a little surprised at first then just smiled (wow, didn't see that coming(that's sarcasm for all you bright people)).

"Well first off her name is Mallet, not Malley, that's just a nickname," she answered. The rest of the Flock was listening now too. "And she is called Mallet because she likes to smash things." I looked over at Malley; she had a dark grin on her face. I gulped, the girl looked insanely evil.

"Its true, I do like to smash things," she reiterated. I drifted slowly away from her. "Don't nonchalantly fly away from me!" she yelled. That just made me get further away. I chuckled to myself, knowing she couldn't catch me, when I noticed something up ahead.

"Shoot!" I yelled. I stopped and almost crashed into Malley. Even if they were far off I could tell what they were, Shredders. "Everyone, get ready Shredders coming up fast, Or-fit-oman!" I yelled at them using a code we made up ourselves. Sky and Malley didn't know what it meant, but they did know what Shredders meant and got ready.

"How many?" I asked Ziggy who was flying up ahead. I saw him focus on the cloud of them coming in fast.

"I count roughly 30, maybe more, they're clumping," he answered. For the son of a blind kid he had the best vision of us all. That's irony for you.

"Alright, Mint, you got any scream, in you?" I asked her smirking. She smirked back and nodded. She flew in front of me; she filled her lungs with loads of air. I covered my ears and braced myself. The Shredders were getting closer, to their doom that is. She opened her mouth.

Now would be a good time to interject on the amazing similarities and differences between twins. Mint and Chip looked almost the same; you could hardly tell them apart as babies. Chip inherited, what my mom said was his fathers bad digestive system. For Chip though and thankfully for us it came out his mouth and not his, yeah that. Mint got the same thing only a little different, most importantly she didn't need a carbonated beverage to make her deadly screech come out.

The Shredders stopped and covered their ears trying to block it out. Little did they know was that the scream would reverberate in your brain once you heard it. Some of them screeched themselves in pain and dropped like flies. That was our cue to move in.

I swooped in and chopped one in its neck then kicked it in its gut. It dropped a few feet then came back at me. I quickly dodged it then kicked it in its back, square between the wings. It immediately crumpled out of the sky. Another came up and I landed a kick on its chest, around its heart (if it had a heart that is). I heard something crack and its eyes widen and it fell.

I checked on the Flock quickly. Ziggy was helping Chip fight off about 5 Shredders and Mint and Kitten were doing the same. Our Flock always stuck together in fights, more protection that way. I glanced another way to find the Crazy Crew. Malley had just punched one in the beak and it shattered. Let me reiterate that for your benefit, _shattered_. That girl was freaky strong, 2nd note to self: stay on her good side. Her sister on the other hand was nowhere to be seen. I whirled around looking for her, getting punched in the gut in the process. I kicked the Shredder in the neck, then in its back, still looking for the random girl.

I saw her, up away from the fight. What was she doing? Could she not fight? Even Kitten, an eight year-old, could fight! I was little tick at her till one flew up at her. I wanted to watch to see what would happen but two Shredders came up either side of me, trying to sandwich me. I quickly dove away. By the time I got to look up the Shredder was no where near her. How did she do it? It wasn't Malley; she was fighting some others at the time. I glared up at her, I hate being confused and curious.

The Shredders started to retreat as their numbers dwindled swiftly. Only ten of them where still able to fly and they flew away fast. We watched them and jeered at them.

"Status report!" I yelled.

"I'm okay over here, though Chip's nose is all bloody," said Ziggy pointing at the youngster holding his head back and pinching his nose.

"Just a little beaten and winded," said Mint referring to both her and Kitten. I turned to Sky and Malley. They were oblivious, Malley was picking at her jeans and Sky was staring straight ahead. I cleared my throat to get their attention. Sky's head snapped in my direction.

"I'm sorry, what?" she asked as if coming out of a daze. I slapped my hand on my forehead and sighed.

"Are you guys alright?" I asked through clenched teeth.

"Well now that you ask, I've always felt like I was a bit off in my mind…"

"I meant physically!"

"Oh, my bad! Sorry, um…well besides being a tad on the famished side, I'm solid," she replied. I just rolled my eyes and looked over at Malley. She had tears in her eyes.

"I'm not alright! Look!" she showed me her finger. I just looked at it questioningly.

"I don't see anything," I said. She put her finger right up next to me eye, nearly poking it.

"Look! How can you not see it?! It's huge!" she cried. I finally saw it, a tiny splinter in her index finger. I mentally slapped my forehead.

"Here let me take it out…" I said, she snatched her finger away.

"NO!" she cried, cradling her hand, "it'll hurt!" She whimpered, sounding just like a puppy with an expression to match. I sighed and put on a trusting face.

"I promise it won't hurt," I said with a tone of sincerity. I, of course was lying, it was in all aspects going to hurt, but she didn't have to know that, now did she. I smirked on the inside as her trusting eyes gave me the once-over and she held out her hand once again. I examined the miniscule yet horrific sliver of wood. It was no longer than the white part of my nail and certainly no thicker. I looked over at Sky, who gave me an inquiring look.

"I don't suppose you have a pair of tweezers in your bottomless supply of random?" I said her knowing full well by now that she would. She grinned like the Cheshire cat and handed me a pair of small silver tweezers. They seemed to have just appeared immediately in her hand. I took them and tested them out before focusing on the task at hand. I glared at the tiny perpetrator and closed the tweezers on it and pulled. It came out in less than a second.

"OW!" cried Malley. She blew on her finger and stuck it in her mouth. She glared at me, I however ignored this and threw the tweezers back to Sky, and they disappeared before even reaching her.

"You lied," Malley accused still glaring.

"Malley, no. He got it out, so no," said Sky, giving her sister a forewarn look. Malley gave her sister a suspicious look and she smiled. Evilly, though still a smile. She kind of danced, more like floated from side to side.

"Wouldn't dream of it Sky," she said ever-to-sweetly. Sky kept up her look, now appearing more like a mother daring her child to take a cookie out of the jar when she had already caught them with their hand in it. Malley just kept up her act. I decided we had been airborne long enough.

"Come on, we need to land and get far away from here. Those Shredders are sure to come with more of them," I said and we all dropped into the foliage below. I dusted myself off and looked over the Flock once more. They were holding up.

I looked up at the sky and saw the sun going down a bit, shoot we had lost a whole day already. We would have to camp soon and find food; I could tell they were all hungry. They never said anything though, they were trying to be strong, not for me, but for our parents. The ones who had saved the world and had gone without food longer than we had. The ones who had fought bravely against a tyrannical society of sociopaths. The ones forced into a life they didn't ask for, born normally, raised neglectfully, hunted like prey and probably would be until they died. Life was unfair.

I snapped back into reality when Ziggy asked me if he should start a fire. I had a lump in my throat so I merely just nodded my head. I tried to swallow the lump; it finally disappeared after a minute or two. I asked Sky to come scavenge food with me. She nodded and followed me up into the now dark sky. Neither of us talked as we flew around looking for a nearby town. I wanted to say anything, anything to stop the unsettling silence, but no idea came to me or was wiped from my thoughts before I could get it out. We finally spotted a small clump of houses. We dove down landing only 20 feet from the village. We were still silent, couldn't she say something, anything!?

We crept up to the closest house and dug through the trash for some goodies. We really didn't find much; we had the same luck with the next 4 houses. The whole time not a word was spoken, why? The fifth and last house had a few non-moldy treasures so we quickly scooped them up. That's when I noticed a newspaper in the recycling bin next to the trash can. The date was today's and on the front page was the picture of me and Sky from the other night. The headline read:

_**BIRD KIDS FINALLY SPOTTED AFTER TWO MONTHS OF ABSENCE **_

I quickly glanced over the article. It told how two of us were spotted in a small town in Montana, that's probably how the guy who controlled the Shredders found us. I stole a glance at Sky; she didn't notice the article and was still digging in the trash. I stealthily grabbed the paper and stuffed it at the bottom of bin. I couldn't risk her reading it. She finally surfaced from the garbage. She gave me an expectant look, not a word, not one. I just launched myself into the air, without an answer. I knew I wouldn't be able to take another silent trip. So I turned in the air to face her and stopped. She looked a little puzzled, but something in her eyes made me think that she had known this was coming.

"Why are you so silent?" I asked her barely keeping my annoyance concealed. She looked down guiltily at first, and then looked at me.

"I guess I'm just a little tired," she answered weakly. I knew she was lying.

"You're lying, I know you are," I growled. She looked down again.

"I was thinking," she said her voice trailing off.

"About what?" I asked genuinely curious, glad the silence was over.

"Why are you being so nosy?" was her reply, she sounded just as annoyed as me. I was taken aback, I wasn't being nosy, I just didn't want silence.

"Why are you being so defensive?" I retorted with my own annoyance.

"Because this kid I hardly know is trying to get every little bit of information about my life out of me," she answered glaring at me.

"Oh! My bad, because I'm just the guy who helped you and your sister. My bad if I'm trying to protect my family as best I can and this one girl is being suspicious." I growled.

"We didn't ask for you to help us!" she yelled. I nearly dropped the food in my arms. Could she be anymore senseless?

"Well if you really feel that way why don't you leave?" I asked her through clenched teeth. She looked a little off-set by my reaction.

"I-I" she paused; she looked a little defeated then agitated, "Because I don't want to leave." She whispered that last part. I rolled my eyes again, this girl was hopeless..

"Well that makes you a hypocrite," I replied. She furrowed her brow and looked over at me with eyes of deep emotional hatred. Like I hadn't gotten that look before.

"And what does that make you? You keep secrets and expect me and my sister to spill all ours!" she retorted.

"We gave you a chance to ask and you wasted it on asking us about whether we would want to eat an octopus raw!" I yelled back at her.

"Excuse me and my sister for having a sense of decency and waiting for you to naturally tell us instead of repeatedly asking like a child!" she snapped. That was a blow to my ego.

"Whatever, lets just go," I huffed. I will not admit that I had no good comeback; I merely wanted to end this childish fight. We were almost at the camp anyway. I would defiantly have a private talk with the Flock when I had the chance. I couldn't shake the feeling that there was more to these girls than we thought, more than they had even told us. They couldn't be trusted. I side-glanced at Sky, she noticed me looking and turned her head away, snubbing me. I did the same. I heard her sigh. I couldn't help myself.

"Would it be a crime if I asked what that was about?" I asked with venom in my tone. She narrowed her eyes at me.

"I was just thinking, of all the bird-kids in the world, I had to crash in to the one the attitude," she answered. I was a little stunned at first, but I silently laughed to myself, unfortunately it wasn't as silent as I wanted it to be. Sky looked at me shocked.

"What?" I asked her.

"Oh my gosh! You have a sense of humor!" she exclaimed. I shook my head in disbelief but I had a smile on my face.

"I'm not the emotionless robot that you seem to believe I am," I replied.

"Well, not emotionless, you obviously have anger issues," she said jokingly. I laughed a little. She smiled, pleased that she uncovered this side of me.

"My dad says I get it from my mom, she says I get it from him. I came to the conclusion it was a combination of both," I told her laughing. She laughed too. It felt good to be able to talk to someone normally. Sky's wing twitched and she dropped a little. I rushed over to her.

"Are you okay?" I asked a little worried.

"Yeah, my wing is just a little stiff from being in a cast," she answered, a second she dropped further. I flew down to her again.

"Land, we're walking," I told her.

"But…" I glared at her and she began her descent. She landed a little ungracefully as her wing folded in too soon. I stopped her from falling. She straightened herself out.

"Why didn't you say your wing was hurting?" I asked her, for a moment it seemed as if I would get a snippy retort, but instead she just sighed.

"I didn't want to hold us back," she admitted. I sighed this time.

"Pain is nothing to hold back," I told her. She just shrugged and put her food in bag (don't ask cause I don't even know) and set it down and rolled her shoulders, getting the kinks out. She picked up the bag and handed me one. I put my food in it. We began to walk.

"So what are they like?" she asked. It took me a second to realize what she was talking about.

"Strong, caring and fun," I answered, "they're the best parents ever." She looked down-trodden.

"Must be nice, having someone who cares," she said. I felt a little uncomfortable, it was like trying to comfort an artist who had just lost their hands. Unbearably awkward. We reached the camp.

"Life is completely unfair at times," she whispered staring blankly at her sister before putting up a façade of cheerfulness as her sister came up to her. I remained silent; it was then that I realized that the two strays were in a league of their own. They were more like our parents, a life thrust upon them. How much had they been through? How much had they suffered? More awkwardness was placed in the atmosphere.

As I handed out the mediocre food to the kids and Ziggy, I stole a glance at Sky. She seemed fine now, but what exactly had happened to her, what exactly she was hiding, I could only guess.

**Yes, finally done with this chapter. I am so sorry it took so long, but I haven't really had a free weekend to do some serious writing. And I also had writer's block, thankfully it was wooden so I burned to ashes with the passion of writing and inspiration and some nasty threats from the co-writer. xP Hopefully the next update wont take to long. Anyway, I disclaim all except the plot and my own characters. **

**~Defiance out~**


	5. Campfire Tales kinda sorta?

_As I handed out the mediocre food to the kids and Ziggy, I stole a glance at Sky. She seemed fine now, but what exactly had happened to her, what exactly she was hiding, I could only guess._

**That Night**

"Hey Sky, you awake?" Malley asked me. I decided to ignore her, knowing what she wanted to ask, what she wanted to discuss. I shut my eyes tighter trying to will myself into that wonderful drug-like place called dreamland. Of course so such luck ensued as Malley continuously poked me in the back, so I settled on continuing to ignore her. This plan didn't work out either, because Malley was so determined that she had found a very sharp stick and poked me in the butt.

"YOW!! Malley what are you doing? I was sleeping!" I yelled as softly as I could, I didn't want to bring the others into this mess. Malley however glared at me skeptically.

"I may not be the shiniest nickel in the piggy bank Sky, but I can tell when you're asleep and when you're faking," she accused. I huffed and turned back around.

"Whatever, I know what you're going to ask and the answer is still no Malley," I said matter-of-factly.

"How do you know what I'm gonna ask, you're not a mind-reader," she retorted.

"True, but I always know what you're thinking." I responded turning back around to face her.

"Oh yeah, then what am I thinking of now?" she asked. She closed her eyes as if she was trying to make it unreadable. I rolled my eyes and smiled, my sister, so predictable.

"Pickles," I said and she opened her eyes and her mouth about to respond, "To be more specific, the one's that come in the long slices with the creepy white bird with a hat on the jars. You think it's weird that a bird would even eat pickles."

"How do you do that?" she asked defeated. I smiled.

"I'm your sister, it's my job to know what you're thinking of at all times," I answered. She put her head in her arms and stared at me with her doleful eyes.

"Ziggy has a sister, a baby sister, like she was just born," she said after a few minutes of silence.

"That's nice," I replied picking at some grass.

"Her name is Nixie, but they call her Fairy, you know, for a nickname," she continued.

"Mhm-hmm," was my response, wondering where she was going with this.

"He loves his sister a lot," she said. I looked up at her.

"Malley, where are you going with this?" I asked. She kept staring at me with her deer eyes and it was beginning to creep me out a little.

"She was taken with his parents, with all of their parents," she said gesturing to the sleeping kids by lifting her wing up a little. I looked down at the ground; I could tell that my eyes had glazed over.

"Malley…"

"Sky, you've always told me that families stick together, so what is so different about now?" she demanded.

"Malley, they're not our family!" I answered.

"So? They're helping us, so shouldn't we return the favor?" she asked.

"Malley, there is no guarantee that their parents will even be there," I replied sternly. This is one fight that I would not lose.

"Sky, you know as well as I do that that is a load of nutty squirrel poo!" she responded just as stern. I rolled my eyes. Only she could say that sentence with a straight face.

"Do you recall the promise we made to each other the night we got away?" I asked.

"That's not fair, you can't use that, not in this situation," she said, her brow furrowing. I knew it wasn't, but I was going to protect my sister, no matter what.

"I believe it went something like, and I quote, 'we vow to never, under any condition, no matter the circumstance, for no reason return to the Company even if it means death'," I declared. She huffed and looked at the ground for a few seconds before lifting her head up. I had won; there was nothing she could say to sway me.

"You disappoint me Skylor." Except that. She turned over so her back was facing me. I stared at her back. I hated how she could get under my skin like that, pushing my buttons until I have to go with whatever she says. I laid there and thought about the dilemma. To go or not to go, that is the question. Gotta love that Shakespeare. Poor Ham guy though, or was it Macbeth, eh whatever, I'm not one for Old English anyway, or any English for that matter. Heck, I can't spell worth crud.

"Hey Malley," she showed no sign of listening but I knew she was, I sighed and continued, "I suppose we wouldn't be breaking our promise if we just mentioned where it is." She turned back over with her signature smile spread wide.

"I knew I'd win," she said slyly. I shook my head and smiled as well.

"How do you get under my skin like that?" I inquired. She yawned before she answered.

"Because, I'm your sister it's my job to know how to get under your skin," she answered.

"Well, I must commend you on your amazing power of guilt manipulation," I stated. Her smiled grew wider.

"I do my best, by the way…"

"You're thinking about how they get the filling in toaster pastries," I said bored. Her face turned red and she immediately turned back around. I just smiled and also turned around. I sighed; we had quite a story to tell tomorrow.

**On the other side of the Campsite…**

"Hey, Demon, I need to talk to you," Ziggy whispered. I considered ignoring him and feigning deep sleep, but I knew he would be persistent.

"About what?" I whispered back, trying not to wake the others.

"About Malley and Sky," he answered.

"Yeah and what about them?" I asked rather annoyed, I just wanted him to get to the point.

"I think we should tell them the truth, you know, about who we are, about who are parents are," he answered.

"No way," I growled.

"Why not, we know a lot about them," he questioned.

"Because, I don't trust them, they're hiding something," I answered.

"And so are we, I think it's a good idea if we get all our secrets out," he suggested.

"Well I think it's a crap idea. There is a reason secrets are secret," I snapped. I normally wasn't so mean toward Ziggy but I was not in the mood to discuss anything about the Crazies, plus I was hungry and tired. Pathetic excuses, I know, but still all the same.

"YOW!" Ziggy and I lifted our heads up to find where the sound came from. I felt my wings twitch in anticipation. Ready to fling me up into the air away from the possible danger. No further sound came after that though, so I relaxed only a little bit. Just in case.

"Come on Demon! I'm sure if we tell them our secrets they'll tell us theirs," he insisted.

"There is no guarantee that they will. They could just easily lie," I responded. Anyone could lie, especially about their secrets.

"Malley said she would make sure Sky would tell the truth," he explained.

"So I see you and her have already discussed this," I said glowering at him. I was a bit peeved at the fact that he had been plotting behind my back. I was after all the leader of our group and his best friend. Didn't that count more than some girl? Especially some girl who we couldn't fully trust.

"Look, don't be mad, it's just that right now we need all the help we can get," he sighed. I knew he was right. Ziggy was always right, the calm, cool-headed one. Unfortunately, that left me to be the cruel, hot-headed one. I groaned, I was gonna regret this later, I just knew it.

"Fine, but they better hold up their end of the bargain and they better not double- cross us," I replied. Ziggy had a triumphant look, I just rolled my eyes.

"You really think they're capable of double-crossing us?" he asked with a sarcastic smile. I thought about it for a moment.

"Probably not Malley, but as for Sky, there is a huge possibility," I answered.

"You know she's not as bad as you think, all of us think she's kinda funny," he said with an air of disbelief.

"Pfft, whatever," I retorted, I know, I'm awesome at comebacks.

"I'm pretty sure that if you got to know her, you'd actually begin to like her," he argued. I scowled. Like her? Like what, the craziness? The random things from nowhere? The unusual shortness (for "our" kind at least)? There was no way.

"Sorry, but I don't recall ever dialing the number Avian-Human Dateline," I retorted.

"I didn't mean like that…"

"Really? Cause with the way you're getting all cozy with Malley, I could have sworn you were going to give me some romantic advice." Even in the dark I could tell that his face was tuning red. The dude is way too predictable.

"It's not…I mean…I don't…" he stuttered. I rolled my eyes. One of Ziggy's many weaknesses was how easily you could get him flustered.

"Dude, whatever, I don't care who you like or what you do, just keep it PG in front of the kids," I said, I kinda sounded like a mom there for sec. Eck. Ziggy just nodded and rolled over to face the other way.

"Thanks man," he said.

"Yeah, whatever," I replied as I closed my eyes.

"Hey Demon?" he said. I opened one eye.

"Yeah?'

"You totally sounded like a mom just then," he laughed.

"Man, shut-up," I laughed back. I closed my eyes once more and sighed, we had quite a story to tell tomorrow.

**A/N: Gah! I'm so terribly sorry for this taking so long to get out!!! I've just been overloaded with work, even in the summer. Tis not fair...T-T. I'm so overjoyed at finaaly getting this done!!! And I promise, promise, promise that the next chapter won't take as long, if it does then may my co-writer** **hang me with the keybord chord. (no not really). Also I know that this one is like, super extra short compared to the others, but it just ended so nicely when it did. Well thats all for now. I disclaim all except the story and OCs. **

**~Defiance out**


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